The image of Christ in the visual arts is a history of reverence, wonder, and controversy. Art historically, one can trace the depiction of Christ from an icon of power and transcendental remoteness to a depiction — especially prevalent in modern times — of Christ as a man of flesh and blood, seemingly more human than divine. In the 20th century, the image of Christ became more immanent and intimate. It was even appropriated by various ethnic, sexual, and political groups for propaganda purposes. For instance, the Mexican muralist Orozco portrayed an angry Christ chopping up His cross as a symbol of revolution. Artist Alex Gray superimposed a crucified Christ over a nuclear explosion to protest arms proliferation. And a descendant of Winston Churchill, the sculptress Edwina Sandys, made a feminist statement in portraying a naked female on a cross and calling her “Christa.”
Of special interest, too, in the history of art, is the phenomenon whereby the artist or a group of participants in a ritual act identify with the very Person of Christ. The artist Albrecht Durer portrayed himself as the Man of Sorrows. Many an artist after him assumed the role of the “alter Christus.” This identification accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries with ever-greater frequency as artists shook off the medieval notion of being mere craftsmen and adopted the elevated image of themselves in the role of prophet, seer, or mystic, enjoying special entrée into the world of the spiritual, supernatural, and surreal. At the devotional level, on the other hand, the faithful had long fostered an empathetic association with the sufferings of Christ in such popular pieties as Passion plays and the rituals of public penitents.
Read Full Article »